The first piercing rays of the dawn broke over the jagged eastern horizon, casting long, dramatic shadows across the endless sea of red sand. The desert sun was blindingly sharp, its intense ultraviolet waves instantly heating the arid atmosphere. Acting with rapid, mechanical precision, I pulled the heavy wool cloak tightly over my shoulders and drew the deep cowl far forward over my face, ensuring my skin was completely shielded from the light. Beneath the coarse fabric, my massive crimson blood wings remained tightly compressed and perfectly hidden against my spine.
Through the narrow slit of my hardened, solidified blood mask, the monolithic, sandstone walls of Sisiphon City finally materialized in the distance.
My analytical matrix indicated that my physical stamina required a brief period of structural stabilization. I needed a short rest within the city perimeter before charting my trajectory to the exact coordinates of the desert canyon where the Branch 2 vanguard squad had been annihilated. Furthermore, my tactical assessment of the target was absolute: the purebred vampire anomaly would be completely absent from the desert plains during the daylight hours. As creatures sharing a highly volatile cellular allergy to direct sunlight, neither of us could operate efficiently under the noon sky without severe degradation.
I marched steadily down the packed dirt path, the dry wind kicking up small eddies of dust around my boots, until I finally reached the massive, brass-reinforced gates of Sisiphon City.
Standing directly at the primary checkpoint, overseeing a line of merchant wagons and weary desert travelers, was a familiar silhouette. It was Nikolai. The weary, battle-hardened City Guard officer stood with his hand resting on the hilt of his standard-issue longsword, his eyes carrying the deep, heavy fatigue of a man who spent his life guarding the shifting borders of the oasis. Underneath his uniform sat the horrific abdominal scar from the severe injury that my oldest sister, Elicia, had flawlessly repaired years ago with her Divine Regeneration… a debt of blood that had turned him into a fiercely loyal, protective ally to the Rynd name.
As I approached the threshold, Nikolai's sharp, experienced gaze scanned my draped form. His eyes dipped for a fraction of a second, catching the subtle, metallic clinking of the ten tear gas bottles and five weaponized mustard gas spheres lined across my narrow waist.
"An alchemist, huh? Well, you're in luck. This city is practically crawling with scholars, researchers, and eccentric potion-makers. You'll fit right in. Anyways... toll and status card, please." Nikolai muttered, his gruff voice cutting through the chatter of the market queue as he took a quick glance at my chemical payload.
He didn't recognize me at all. The underlying logic was flawless: the Eirene he had previously aided during the investigations into the Lotus Dust and the Sand-Glass Inn was an individual who wore a completely different, shattered phantom mask, and crucially, she had been operating with a brutally severed left arm. Now, standing before him was a traveler wearing a custom-molded blood mask that entirely sealed away my heterochromic right eye, and thanks to Elicia's god-tier healing back at the inn, both of my arms were fully whole and structurally present. To his eyes, I was merely an anonymous, low-profile alchemist passing through the northern wilds.
Deciding to bypass unnecessary bureaucratic friction and establish a secure vanguard contact within the city, I extended my fully restored left hand beneath the heavy folds of the wool cloak. I smoothly handed him my official identification token.
I looked directly into his weathered face, my voice dropping into its natural, smooth, and chillingly deadpan octave. I stated quietly, the words echoing with a sharp clarity beneath my cowl.
"Nikolai, I am Eirene."
Nikolai completely froze. His weathered face went entirely pale, and his hand violently twitched against the hilt of his longsword as his eyes darted from my official identification token back up to my face. He stared at the narrow slit of my hardened blood mask, then down to my left arm… the very same appendage that had been a mangled, empty sleeve the last time he saw me.
"Eirene… What in the world happened to you? Your arm... it's completely whole. And your voice... it's completely changed. It's like hearing an angel speak, not the raspy phantom I remember."
"Elicia healed me, Her magic restored my cellular structure back to its original baseline parameters. It corrected the vocal chord damage as well." I replied flatly, my deadpan expression remaining entirely hidden beneath my dark cowl.
Nikolai let out a long, shaky breath, a look of profound, fatherly relief washing over his tired eyes.
"The Principal... of course. Only the Offspring Goddess could pull off a miracle like that. I still bear the scar from her saving my own life, so I shouldn't be surprised. Well, you completely saved this city from the epidemic of the Lotus Dust, Eirene. You systematically eliminated the drug lord Oksana and tore her operation out by the roots. But... why exactly are you back here in Sisiphon?"
"I am simply fulfilling my logistical obligations, Nikolai, Oksana was merely a high-tier bounty contract that required liquidation. My presence today concerns a secondary objective. Do you possess any current military intelligence regarding the annihilation of the Branch 2 vanguard squad? My data indicates the incident occurred nearby, along the southern borders of the desert."
Nikolai's eyes widened to dinner plates. He instinctively reached out, grabbing my shoulder with a heavy, trembling grip and pulling me deeper into the shadow of the stone archway, away from the ears of the merchant queue.
"You're tracking that anomaly? Eirene, you're hunting the blood-sucking winged demon? The monstrous purebred vampire who literally liquefied and swallowed the lifeforce of thirty-two elite Luminous Knights without leaving a single survivor?" Nikolai hissed, his voice laced with an absolute, suffocating terror.
I adjusted the heavy fold of my wool cloak, the narrow slit of my hardened blood mask fixing directly onto Nikolai's panicked face. My jade-green left eye locked onto his with an icy, mechanical focus that completely brooked no delay.
"Do I need to repeat the same question?" I asked, my voice smooth, quiet, and completely devoid of human warmth.
Nikolai flinched slightly, the chilling authority in my tone reminding him exactly who… and what… he was standing next to. He looked around the crowded checkpoint one last time, rubbing his face with a weary, calloused hand as he came to a definitive decision.
"The Bureau has placed the entire slaughter zone under maximum lockdown, They officially declared the sector off-limits to everyone, including local law enforcement. But... damn it, you saved this city from the Lotus Dust, Eirene. I'll bring you there myself. It's still completely sunny, which means that purebred freak is highly likely still sleeping deep below the desert sands to avoid the ultraviolet radiation. I can get you close enough to investigate before the local patrols catch wind."
"Take me there, Nikolai," I commanded simply.
Nikolai didn't hesitate. He stepped out from the shadow of the stone archway and turned sharply to the subordinate city guards stationed at the brass-reinforced turnstiles.
"Listen up! Maintain a strict defensive lock on these outer gates. This traveler right here is classified as an absolute top priority under my direct authority. No questions, no logs." Nikolai barked, his voice reassuming the stern, commanding register of a high-ranking officer
"Yes, Captain!" the guards shouted in unison, snapping quick military salutes.
Nikolai turned toward the open stables flanking the inner wall and let out a sharp, high-pitched whistle that echoed across the sandstone courtyard. Within seconds, a powerful, sand-colored desert steed broke away from the stalls, its hooves clattering heavily against the stone as it trotted directly to its master's side.
Nikolai grabbed the leather reins, smoothly swung his leg over the saddle, and settled into the seat. He reached down, extending his armored hand toward me.
"Climb up, Eirene, We need to cross the dune lines before the noon heat hits its peak."
I didn't take his hand to be lifted. Instead, moving with a fluid, terrifying agility that bypassed human physics, I grabbed his forearm with my fully restored left hand. Using a precise, effortless leverage of my baseline strength, I pulled myself upward in a single, seamless motion, landing perfectly behind his saddle.
The fifteen heavy glass spheres around my waist clinked softly beneath my cloak as I stabilized my position, the ten bottles of tear gas and five spheres of weaponized mustard gas resting securely against the horse's flank. With my wings tightly compressed against my spine and my identity buried beneath the stolen wool garment, we launched out from the city gates at a hard gallop, charging directly into the blistering heat of the Sisiphon desert to confront the ghost of Branch 2.